Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells Transplantation

Cord blood is being used to get stem cells with which to test in people with type 1 diabetes mellitus.
Umbilical cord blood stem cells transplantation. It is most often performed for patients with certain cancers. How cord blood is collected for a transplant. Umbilical cord blood ucb is a valuable source of hematopoietic stem cells hscs for use in allogeneic transplantation when a suitable adult donor is unavailable. It may be autologous the patient s own stem cells are used allogeneic the stem cells come from a donor or syngeneic from an identical twin.
1 2 however many of the publically accessible ucb units are currently unfit for use in adult transplantation because of a low hsc content which is associated with delayed time to engraftment high graft failure. If this is an option for you before your baby s birth ask your doctor about how to make. The cord blood can be frozen and stored until it s used in a cord blood transplant. Every family who donates their baby s umbilical cord blood after birth gives hope to patients.
An estimated 700 000 umbilical cord blood ucb units have been donated for public use. Cord blood is one of three sources of blood forming cells used in transplants. The other two sources are bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells. There may be advantages for certain patients to have cord blood stem cell transplants instead of transplants with marrow or peripheral blood stem cells pbscs.
In a cord blood transplant stems cells are collected from umbilical cord blood. Given the association between cell dose and engraftment many centers are choosing larger units based on total nucleated cell count or cd34 dose for transplantation even for pediatric patients 1 2 there are currently more than 100 ucb banks collecting units for public use. Umbilical cord blood is the blood left in the umbilical cord after a baby s birth. It s free and safe for the mother and baby.
Cord blood is also being studied as a substitute for normal blood transfusions in the developing world. Umbilical cord blood banking.